This invention relates to theme calendars.
An "Advent Calendar" is a familiar type of theme calendar. In general parlance, "advent" refers to a coming or arrival, especially of something awaited or momentous. "Advent" in its proper form is defined as the penitential period beginning four Sundays before Christmas. Advent calendars were originated in the 1920s by a German businessman, Gerhard Lang, as a means for marking the passage of days while counting down to Christmas.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical implementation of a Christmas Advent calendar 10. A substantially flat (two-dimensional or 2D) member 11 has twenty-five individual cells 13, one for each of the days from December 1st to December 25 (i.e., Christmas Day) along with a Christmas-related motif or theme 12 (e.g., Santa Claus) imprinted thereon. Each of the cells 13 has a closure (e.g., door or flap) 14 which is to be opened when the day corresponding to the cell under consideration arrives. Underneath each flap 14 is a textual message, religious saying or an image that relates to the Christmas theme. Starting on December 1st, an owner of a Christmas Advent calendar 10 opens one flap 14 each day, reads the message for that day, and then continues in this manner, counting down one day at a time until Christmas day arrives.
Various different physical configurations can be used for Christmas advent calendars. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a three-dimensional (3D) Christmas advent calendar 20 can be constructed in which each date cell has a depth, D, sufficient to hold a 3D object 22 such as a charm, toy, ornament, piece of candy or another token representative of the Christmas theme.